This invention relates to an erection holder as means for making possible or prolonging the erection of the penis, in particular for substantially impotent men or men of weak sexual potency.
The coitus which leads both partners to have an orgasm and find full satisfaction is of the greatest importance for the psychic and physical equilibrium of a human being. It is particularly important for each man so as to strengthen and preserve his self-confidence, that he is assured of being able to satisfy his wife sexually and make her happy at all times.
The modern way of life in which situations of stress recur with great frequency cause an ever larger number of men to lack at an increasing number of occasions the ability to carry out a satisfying coitus. A direct consequence thereof is lack of potency or complete impotence, carrying with them a well known negative influence on the relationship between husband and wife.
These problems are well known, and there have been repeated attempts to devise and market auxiliary means which remedy or overcome an insufficient or completely failing erectability of the penis. A great variety of partial or total protheses are known which, however, are all either inconvenient to use or unesthetic or both. As only one example, there is mentioned the German Offenlegungs-Schrift No. 24 60 812 of Leonhard Schmid, dated July 1st, 1976.
Moreover, erection holders are known which consist of an elastic sleeve of a length of about 5 centimeters. The shape of this sleeve is substantially cylindrical, and its base end which is destined to enclose the penis at its root is stiffer than its opposite end which is directed away from the body of the user. The greater stiffness of the body near end region of the sleeve is either provided by a greater thickness of the sleeve wall or by using for this region a material of higher elasticity modulus. Moreover, the sleeve may bear radially extending protrusions. An erection holder of this type has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,455,301 to Clark.
The purpose of using this type of device is to produce a damming up, or congestion, of the blood in the penis, the elastic sleeve serving as a type of blood-damming valve. For obvious reasons of health, the passage of blood through the veins extending from the body of the user into the penis must not be completely interrupted and it is very difficult to attain a desired optimal congestion effect. For this reason, the last-mentioned U.S. Patent mentions expressly that the cylindrical sleeve must be most easily deformable at its outer end, whereby it is widened when axial pressures occur during use.
Thereby, the inner width of the sleeve is periodically narrowed toward the base end thereof, and the temporary increases in the congestion effect caused thereby are destined to compensate for the undesirable effects of the aforesaid axial pressures.
However, in practice the known devices of this type achieve a completely reliable result only when all of the relevant factors, and in particular the required deformation force at determined regions as well as the inner diameter of the sleeve are very closely adapted to the physiological factors and conditions of the user. This results in the need for a large number of types of a great variety of dimensions which complicates their manufacture and renders it costly. At the same time it becomes difficult for the user to choose the type most suited for him.